Regeneration
Regeneration was the process by which Time Lords renewed themselves, causing a complete physical and often psychological change. It could happen because of severe illness Doctor Who TV stories The Tenth Planet, Planet of the Spiders, The Caves of Androzani, The End of Time, Day of the Moon or injury.Doctor Who TV stories Logopolis, Time and the Rani, Doctor Who, Utopia, Let's Kill Hitler It could also be invoked by choice, whether voluntary or involuntary.Doctor Who TV stories The War Games, Destiny of the Daleks Conversely, regeneration could be stopped by choice.Doctor Who TV story Last of the Time Lords Although, a Time Lord could delay the actual change in appearance and enter "a state of grace" for a brief period of time.Doctor Who TV stories The End of Time, The Doctor Falls, Twice Upon a Time Precise damage to a Time Lord could also cause a delay in the regeneration starting.Doctor Who TV stories Doctor Who, The Doctor Falls The physical change could result in a switch of gender, transforming males into females, and females into males.Tardis Wiki Major Price briefly described regeneration as part of her briefing for the Ministry of Magic.Hogwarped! How regeneration worked Different explanations were given for the process of regeneration. One theory held that Cardinal Rassilon had been investigating a method of regenerating decayed and diseased tissue via a series of self-replicating, biogenic molecules. The cells of a Gallifreyan body would be repaired, restored and re-organised, resulting in a wholly new physical form. The brain cells would also be rearranged, though to a lesser extent; the new incarnation would retain the memories and personality of the former incarnation. Rassilon intended this mechanism only for the Gallifreyan elite. He also inputted a parameter of twelve regenerative cycles to avoid decaying biogenic molecules.Doctor Who Audio story Zagreus Another explanation stated that Time Lords had triple-helix DNA: the third strand was added by Rassilon to enable regeneration.Doctor Who Prose story The Crystal Bucephalus A third account suggested that the Looms gave Gallifreyans the ability to regenerate and that the earlier womb-born generations could not.Doctor Who Prose story Lungbarrow Upon observing the similarities between Time Lord regeneration and the rapid healing of the Mal'akh, Richard Francis Burton theorised that early Time Lords obtained regenerative abilities by knowingly infecting themselves with the Yssgaroth taint.Doctor Who Prose story The Book of the War Exposure over billions of years to the Untempered Schism was implied to have contributed to the Time Lords' ability to regenerate.Doctor Who TV story A Good Man Goes to War One Gallifreyan wrote that regeneration was a natural process for all Gallifreyans, and was not exclusive to the Time Lords.Doctor Who Prose story A Brief History of Time Lords Details Time Lords released massive amounts of a hormone called lindos in moments of extreme trauma, and it was this hormone which triggered regeneration. Newly regenerated Time Lords could be identified by elevated levels of lindos in their system. Doctor Who Prose story The Twin Dilemma and Audio story Unregenerate! Time Lords were also said to have "packets" of regeneration energy in their bodies, one for each life. These packets could be physically removed from a Time Lord's body, essentially robbing them of their regenerations.Doctor Who TV story Mawdryn Undead Sources Category:Abilities Category:Processes